One year during a Laguna Seca race weekend I had an interesting experience with a then unknown John Hopkins. There was a demo ride on Aprilia Cup 250s and we went to the track early to get a shot at one. There were 16 of them and around 23 of us showed up to ride. John was 14 I think, didn't even have a street license to ride or drive yet. When we were all assigned numbers for the ride, John got #16 and I got 17. Needless to say, he rode and I didn't. He went on to win the Aprilia Cup Challenge that year and launched his career. One of those situations where what happens if I'm 3 minutes earlier to the track and I rode and he didn't? I'd still have ended doing what I did but would his path to success have changed?

his success path was chosen before that. in fact, i wouldnt doubt if his name was an automatic for getting picked in the 250 race you missed out on. hopper was on the radar from a very early age.

people forget just how young he was when he started his pro career. they moved him along very fast, maybe too fast.

and on the 990's, he was becoming a real threat. so was nakano on the kawasaki for that matter. the switch to 800cc derailed many a promising careers imo.

2006 was the best racing i have ever seen. many different winners, many different championship favorites, all the oem's competitive, and even satellite teams on a level playing field with the factories.

Probably the best move Suzuki can make. Bautista most likely will flee the team to move to Tech-3 Yamaha to replace Old man Edwards or snatch Toni Elias' ride from under him once Elias reminds everyone why he got forced to ride in Moto2 as the season unfolds. John Hopper is the safe bet as he knows the Slowzuki pretty well and Denning won't have to work too hard to find a mid-pack rider who can perform above average in the class .

Well for starters Suzuki needs to sort out their bike before they can even start to think about a championship! Second, A young rider with championship stars in his eyes is probably not the best bet for bike development. Third, Hopper has done the best on the Suzuki to this day and has plenty of experiance to help with set up/development. Fourth, Hopper has a natural talent that your either born with or you ain't and if his head and body are right he may just be the best man for the job. Anybody who truely knows about riding a bike can see that in his riding, even if he is mid pack. Fifth, Nobody runs a v-twin in Moto GP!

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